With the cost of designer beauty products going up every season, a damaged or broken product can be devastating. Don’t go reaching for the garbage just yet, here are some tips you can use to fix broken makeup and salvage your favorite compacts and lipsticks.

Powder Compacts

It happens to everyone. A slip of the hand, an overzealous reach for your brush, it just takes a second and then smash. You favorite blush, bronzer, shadow, or powder sits on the floor, its previously pristine contents shattered into tiny little pieces. Do you throw it away? No! There are steps you can take to salvage it with just a few supplies. All you need is a few drops of rubbing alcohol and a spoon or butter knife. If you’re re-molding an eye shadow, a spoon will probably be better, but for larger palettes a knife covers more ground. Pack all of the broken pieces into the case as much as you can before you start, as you want to use as little alcohol as possible, then add just a few drops to soften the product. Gently push the pieces together with the flat side of your spoon or knife until it resembles its former glory. Now, all you have to do it wait for it to dry before you can use it as normal.

Sometimes the damage is too great, so if your compact is more powder than pieces post-fall, crush the rest and make it into a loose powder. Old pillboxes make great containers and are easy to fill.

Lipsticks

Part of the fun of putting on lipstick, especially in public, is that motion; the swipe. But what about when you’ve squished it up into the lid? The most stylish way to salvage this is to make your own lipstick palette. Makeup artists have been making lipstick palettes for decades but most normal women stick to the tubes.

There are two ways to make a palette. The first is to simply take a knife, remove the squished lipstick, and spread it in your container of choice. This works very well but doesn’t look great. The other option is to get a small container, again a pillbox works well, or empty eyeshadow quad and decant your favorite colors into it. You only need a small amount of the lipstick, but this way you have your own custom palette with all your favorite shades.

To transfer the lipstick, and make it look clean and professional, you’ll need a candle, a spoon, a toothpick, and your container. Take a small amount of the lipstick and put it onto the spoon. Hold the spoon over the flame, but never touch the bottom of the spoon to the flame. You only need very gentle heat to melt the lipstick so be patient and let it melt slowly, stirring with the toothpick. Once it’s just melted, pour it into the container. Don’t pour it all the way to the top, as you’ll see it expands slightly when it cools. Then clean your spoon and start on the next color.

Broken makeup is a pain, but by no means the end of your fun. Try out these tips and save your favorite products.